


The Littlest Mermaid

by teamchaosprez



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Drowning, F/F, Falling In Love, First Kiss, First Meetings, Mermaid Yumeno Himiko, Mermaids, she doesn't really drown she almost does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 15:52:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15666396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teamchaosprez/pseuds/teamchaosprez
Summary: Or; Tenko sees a girl beneath the waves, and as she so often does, jumps into action without thinking about it.





	The Littlest Mermaid

**Author's Note:**

> oogh this is my first time writing either of them, though i have dabbled in v3 before, so i hope it turned out okay!

Tenko Chabashira could not swim, but she enjoyed being a sailor nonetheless. The salty sea air was calming, the waves had a unique beauty to them that she appreciated. It didn’t matter as much to her that she was the only woman on board, surrounded by males she saw as degenerates; what mattered to her was that she was free to explore the ocean as she saw fit. She loved water, she loved adventure, and she loved the peace of being the first to wake on a warm grey morning and step out onto the deck of the ship so that she could get started on the day’s chores.

She was adjusting the sails to ensure that they would carry the ship where it needed to go when something red in the water caught her eye - not red as in blood, but red as in hair or maybe fabric. Tenko normally would have ignored it, but she jumped down from the sail in order to go investigate. She wasn’t entirely sure why - maybe she was curious, maybe she was just pulled along by fate, but she  _ needed _ to know what the red in the water was. The sailor put her hands on the edge of the deck and leaned over the side of the ship, squinting into the choppy grey waters… and saw what she’d feared there.

The red was hair. She could clearly see pale skin, the curve of breasts, and even make out some freckles despite the lack of sunlight and the fact that this stranger was underwater. There was a girl underneath the waves, and Tenko couldn’t help but worry when she reached down, tried to grab at her, and watched her tilt so that she could see delicate features and closed eyes. Tenko wasn’t thinking, didn’t know what she needed to do, so she just… acted, lifting her leg over the side of the deck and jumping in.

The cold ocean water hit her in pins and needles, and she didn’t even reach the girl before suddenly, cruelly remembered that she didn’t know how to swim. Her mind raced as she began to realize that she couldn’t breathe; kids learned how to swim by getting thrown right into the water, right? It would be fine, she just needed to move her limbs and she would start moving upward. Her arm linked around the girl’s abdomen just below her armpits, and Tenko flinched at how cold and clammy her skin was. The sailor paused for a moment, making sure that she knew what way was up.

Tenko began kicking her legs, flailing her arm about, trying to move up. It wasn’t very long before she realized it was pointless; she wasn’t willing to let go of the stranger, but the extra weight didn’t seem to help very much at all; she cursed herself quietly, for being an idiot, for not learning how to swim when she was a little younger, for deciding to become a sailor when she knew that she couldn’t even survive if she was thrown into the water if the ship sunk. For being an idiot and jumping into the water after this girl when she logically knew that she wouldn’t be much help if the girl was even alive.

Her vision was starting to blur and her lungs were starting to burn; she struggled against the ice cold water pulling her down for a little longer, trying to make her way to the surface. She looked down at the girl, wanting to at least see the reason she was about to die, and…

She saw a long, long red tail underneath this strange girl. She was shocked for a moment, and tried to gasp for breath, taking in cold salty water.

Everything went black.

* * *

 

Tenko woke up to the sensation of the sun beating down on her skin and the sound of seagulls screeching above her head. The back of her eyelids was red, bright red, red like the hair of the stranger she jumped into the water for and as red as the tail that she saw stretching down into the dark grey waters. She wiggled her fingers, felt the wet sand underneath her and smelled the salty sea air. Felt a breeze pass over her wet body, heard the leaves of trees ruffling.

She opened her eyes, flinched at the sudden sharp brightness of the sun hitting her eyes. Tenko grunted in annoyance, putting one hand over her eyes to block the light. Her lungs burned when she adjusted, went to pull herself up into a sitting position. Nobody ever told her that almost drowning --

Wait, she was alive.

Why was she alive?

Her question was answered mercifully quickly when she heard a soft, sleepy voice right next to her left side, and noticed her vision go a little darker when a shadow crossed over her. “Nyeh… good, you’re awake.” Tenko opened her eyes, blinked a little at the sudden intake of light - though, thank god, it was less than just staring up at the sun. The cutest girl she’d ever seen sat beside her, pale skin seeming to glow a little in the sunlight, bright red hair tickling her chin and freckles covering her face, her chest, her shoulders and arms - and warm bright eyes stared down at the sailor with concern. This was the girl she’d tried to save. Tenko decided to look down, see if she spotted the tail, and-- oh god she was shirtless.

The sailor averted her eyes rather quickly, deciding to look up at the clouds instead of the  _ incredibly _ pretty girl that might not be fully human. Her face was burning, and she became vaguely aware of dark hair fanned out over the sand that would probably be impossible to get out. She groaned. “Good,” the girl spoke up again before Tenko could get the chance to even begin to formulate a reply. “It was such a pain to get you all the way over here. Would be a real bummer if you died on me. What’s your name?”

She let out a sigh as she pulled herself up into a sitting position so that she could look at the girl without looking down at her… chest. Tenko swallowed heavily. God, she was a useless lesbian. “Tenko Chabashira,” she answered, her usual big, energetic smile appearing on her face.  _ Just don’t be weird. _ “Thank you so much… for saving me. I, uh, I jumped into the water to try and save you. I thought you were drowning. I’m glad you’re okay.” She held out a hand to shake, and the redheaded girl looked down as if she didn’t know how a handshake worked before leaning back ever so slightly. Awkwardly and with teeth clenched, Tenko withdrew her hand.

“Himiko Yumeno,” the girl replied, still sounding tired, until a little giggle left her and she leaned a little bit closer to the sailor, who felt her heart jump up into her throat. She was so pretty. “Silly. Mermaids can’t drown. It was silly of you to jump into the water and try to save me. I do appreciate it, though, a lot. It’s not every day a human is willing to get into a dangerous situation to save somebody they’ve never met.” A small pause. “You have a kind heart, Tenko, I can see that.”

Now, normally, the hints dropped that Himiko wasn’t human would have gone right out of Tenko’s head the moment that she was complimented.  _ However, _ this wasn’t a normal situation, and this girl had explicitly used the word mermaid to describe herself, so the sailor finally found it in her to look down. Himiko had gills in her sides, webbed hands, and a red tail twice the size of the rest of her body that ended in a massive fan three times the size of her abdomen.

The sailor blinked. This was probably the oddest thing she had ever seen in her life, but she wouldn’t lie, it was far from the worst. She took a moment to process this new information before she pulled herself up onto her knees. “Thank you,” she spoke softly, before realizing that her face was just a little bit too close to the mermaid. Blushing deeply, Tenko pulled back before actually getting to her feet. “Anyway, I need to get started on looking for some materials! I’m not going to survive just sitting around and talking to a pretty girl all day!”

So she turned on her heel and began walking into the collection of trees on the island, making a list of everything she’d seen in the movies to look for. Couldn’t be too hard, right?

* * *

 

Three months living on a desert island, waiting and hoping for help to come and doing her best to survive outside of human society, were difficult. Tenko was sunburned, but at least she wasn’t hungry or dying of thirst. She had company, too - a beautiful mermaid named Himiko Yumeno that was sleepy a majority of the time, quiet and a little bit hard to converse with because of her tendency to think that anything and everything was a pain and that she would rather nap.

It wasn’t hard to crack down her walls eventually. Himiko eventually started laughing more, getting a little perkier whenever Tenko talked to her, and it would take an idiot to not notice the warmth that was beginning to blossom in her chest whenever she looked over at the small mermaid. She was beginning to fall in love with Himiko, and typically, she would completely fail at trying to act normal and run off. However, this was her only company in the world right now, and help was nowhere in sight. She couldn’t just run off, she couldn’t just run away from the gay feelings again.

She would have to just pretend that nothing was different, that everything was okay.

Tenko was scraping a rock against a stick, starting to try and light a fire so that she could keep warm and calm overnight when the temperatures started to drop. It never got too cold on the island, but Tenko preferred to be able to cook her food, and she preferred to have that to lean back on just in case a cold breeze hit or it decided to snow for once.

It was probably winter at home. She missed snow.

“You’re getting that thoughtful look on your face again. The cute one.” Himiko commented, and when Tenko looked up she saw a small, fond smile on the mermaid’s features. The sailor’s face lit up a bright fiery red to match Himiko’s hair, and she began to focus a little bit more on the fire, on getting it started so that she could look at literally anything that wasn’t the desperate beating of her heart. Her hands were starting to get sweaty, but she finally managed to get a spark going and a fire roaring.

She didn’t even notice that Himiko had scooted over to next to her until the smaller girl spoke again. “You’re being really quiet. That’s not like you.” She felt Himiko rest her head against her upper arm, and Tenko felt like she could scream.

“Sorry, I guess I’m just… thinking too much.” She poked at the fire with a stick, trying to ignore the blush on her face. “About how you’re… really pretty and you’ve been really helpful and…”

“Tenko?”

Her name spoken softly was enough to make her heart stop, and she looked over at Himiko with wide eyes. The mermaid cupped her cheek with one hand, and it took every single ounce of Tenko’s strength to not start screaming right there on the spot. Brown eyes stared into her green for a moment, and Himiko pulled her face just a little bit closer until their noses were almost touching.

And then their lips pressed together, and Tenko felt her heart stop.

Suddenly, she was glad that she had jumped into the water to save a girl that didn’t need saving.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to leave a comment if you enjoyed!


End file.
